Posted By John Oswald On February 10, 2013 @ 8:58 am In News - Saltwater Fishing | No Comments

Les Fromkin, Ocean, with a black sea bass he caught aboard the Ocean Explorer in October. Photo: John Oswald

It’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks for black sea bass. In the turbulent world that is fishery management, the sea bass fishery has seen more than its fair share of gyrations. And there is another in the offing.

First, some background. The issues in this fishery began years ago, but the latest chapter started in October when the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) shut down the recreational fishery. Although the fishery had been declared rebuilt by that same agency, it said the annual catch limit had been exceeded by over a million pounds and it had no alternative under the Magnuson-Stevens Act but to close it down.

In December, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) passed several motions regarding sea bass, one of which was to open the fishery on Jan. 1. The Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission, which manages the fishery jointly with the MAFMC, approved and the season opened, but only until the end of February. The ASMFC also approved Draft Addendum XXIII to develop a state-by-state plan for the management of black sea bass.

The reason behind the MAFMC’s decision was that the Council wanted to re-evalulate how the black sea bass fishery was managed and to examine the level and quality of the data used to determine the size and health of the stock.

One problem that was immediately apparent was that black sea bass catches in state waters, specifically Massachusetts, accounted for a large portion of the annual catch limit. In 2012, the sea bass harvest in Massachusetts state waters was nearly a million pounds out of a total quota of 1.3 million pounds. That didn’t leave a lot for anybody else.

Another issue was the robustness of the black sea bass stock. At the time, Chris Zeman, one of New Jersey’s representatives to the MAFMC, said, “We are seeing an explosion of black sea bass. We’re seeing them in places we’ve never seen them before and they are very easy to catch.” Zeman said if we’re bound to past approaches, it will mean quotas will be exceeded.

Over the next two weeks, the MAFMC and ASMFC will be meeting on black sea bass and here is where things stand.

In January, the MAFMC’s Scientific and Statistical Committee revised its black sea bass quota recommendation for 2013 to 5.5 million pounds, an increase of a million pounds. On Wednesday, the MAFMC will decide whether to accept that recommendation.

On the new recommendation, Capt. Adam Nowalsky, chairman of the New Jersey chapter of the Recreational Fishing Alliance said that “while it won’t wipe out the reductions fishermen face in 2013, it’s a step in the right direction.”

The following week, the ASMFC meets and, based on what the MAFMC does, will have some tough decisions to make based on the revised quotas.

“There is currently an addendum in place to come up with a set of state-by-state or regional regulations designed to constrain the harvest to the target level. That’s the goal,” said Nowalsky.

Nowalsky said hopefully we can look forward to the sea bass quota being revised upwards and that would provide states and the ASMFC with the flexibility to reduce the 2013 reductions in quotas fishermen face due to overages incurred in 2012. Those reductions are mandated by accountability measures incorporated in the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

Much has yet to be decided and it’s still hard to tell what the 2013 black sea bass season will bring. Divying up the quota will not be easy and it’s sure to spur some heated debate among stakeholders.